Courtesy of the artist
David Sutton's work as LXV utilizes small gestures to grand effect. He deals largely in tiny, twitchy sounds, pitch warped vocal fragments, and synthetic shards stitched back together into grand patchworks that glow with the subtle warmth of stained glass. In a little over a month, he'll return with another release for the similarly minded Barcelona label Anòmia called Clear, which seems by all indications to be his most accomplished series of compositions yet."L.K. Breaking," released today, is the latest issuance from that collection. It's largely built around the same toolkit that Sutton's developed over the past several years, building busy vocal samples, airy synthesizers, and stuttering drums into a disorienting mood piece. But where his past compositions, as well as those of fellow travelers like PAN's Visionist, would spin such sounds into gritty darkness, Sutton here embraces synthetic ecstasy. It's overwhelming in the same ways as his more anxious pieces, but this time, he feels less burdened, joyful and light, at least on the surface. He tells THUMP in an email that this isn't an accident."Previous LXV works have explored spectral consciousness and experiences beyond the five-sense reality," Sutton wrote. "Clear engages the absence of this connection and subsequent attempts at regaining it through disingenuous methods; such as apophenia[Ed. note per Wikipedia: the human tendency to perceive meaningful patterns within random data], ideology, cult thought etc. "L.K. Breaking" specifically deals with the initial optimistic response to perceived pattern recognition akin to being indoctrinated with a new ideology or applying an explanation of synchronicity to random coincidence. In "L.K. Breaking" this musically translates to morphing cross rhythms and choral oscillations emerging from dissonance; meeting at an apex of perception and dispersing again into the ether."Listen to "L.K. Breaking" here in advance of Clear's July 1 release on Anòmia.
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